With recent events in the world headlines and of course the general ‘bad news’ that the media seem to thrust down our throats 24/7, it’s very easy to fall into a negative mindset. But today, look around you and see how many ‘positive’ people you can spot?

Positive people are those folk that you feel good to be around, they have the ability to help you ‘be yourself’ in a natural relaxed state. They can turn up absolutely anywhere, and may be the person that supports you when you are feeling down and joins in the fun when you’re on the up! You may go to them for advice and appreciate their words of wisdom or as someone who looks at you and notices your strengths, when, often, you are completely blind to them. Consider how many people you know that are open-minded, kind and caring, maybe even compassionate and generous in many ways. Maybe they just have the ability to believe in you and inspire you?

I recall a story, from many moons ago, that a fish will only grow as big as its environment will allow it to. If you keep it it a small tank, it will only grow a few centimetres before becoming stunted, whereas keep it in a pond and it can grow up to a metre in length. How many times do we ‘stunt’ people by not allowing them to grow in the right environment? Spending time with positive people, due to many factors, including their belief in you and their support will enable you to grow to your maximum potential, where the boundaries are endless. Just consider how good that will feel, giving you new ideas and new possibilities. Choose very wisely who you mix with; you become like the company you keep!

Good people bring out the good in people

Who do you know that could tick the majority of the list below?

Someone who makes you feel good about yourself?

Someone you can totally be yourself with?

Someone who listens to what you have to say?

Someone you can talk to if you’re worried?

Someone who makes you laugh?

Someone who inspires you?

Someone who introduces you to new ideas or new people?

Now, you may just have one person in mind or several that tick a few of the situations. The people you have on your list could be absolutely anyone, even people that you have never yet met, but these are the people to start to model yourself on, to ‘hang onto’.

Just start, over the next few days to look around you and notice the people that are there for you. It will be no surprise that the more you mix and socialise with them, the more you will start to pick up their traits and characteristics. Again, choose wisely!

In the very near future, small workshops, based on positivity and mindful awareness, are to be run. Please come along and join us! To register your interest, simply contact us via the email address info@imduk.com and you’ll be one of the first to hear the news.

These workshops could possibly change your life, do you want to miss out?

The ROLIS instrument took a snapshot of comet 67P/CG as Europe’s Philae lander descended toward the surface on Nov. 12, 2014. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/Philae/ROLIS/DLR

So has anyone else been captivated by the recent events concerning the Rosetta Space Mission? I mean, just consider that the launch date goes as far back as March 2004, when a certain Mr Peter Andre was number one in the charts with ‘Mysterious Girl’! What was the point of the mission? To rendezvous with Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and undertake a lengthy exploration of a comet at close quarters to watch how it is transformed by the warmth of the Sun along its elliptical orbit.

Now, when you take into account, the journey to the comet alone would take over 10 years, that the mission was ‘put into hibernation’ to conserve energy and would be ‘woken’ at an arranged date when it moved closer to the sun and was warmed by the suns rays, that the comet was 317 MILLION Miles from earth and that the comet is travelling at 34,000 mph… to land a ‘washing machine’ sized probe (Philae Probe) is truly AMAZING! Already data has been sent back, including pictures which will give mankind even more information about our solar system. A comparison has been made that it was like a fly landing on a fired bullet!

Some will say… what is the point (when you consider that the mission has cost over $1 billion, but then, you can always argue… what is the point of anything, people will always have opinions and opinions are what makes the world go round! Whether you agree with the mission or not, you cannot fail to be impressed with the vision. I mean… who would have ever dreamt up the fact of landing a probe on a speeding comet? (Well, we can all dream), yet who would have this dream/vision but actually have the commitment to see the mission through?

Too often, I, and no doubt you, hear that ‘This is impossible’ or ‘That is impossible’… and once the words have been said (even if this is in our minds, talking to ourselves) it gives us the right to give up.

If you are that determined, then this mission alone should give you all the motivation that you need to discover, whatever life may throw at you, that there is normally a way. It may not happen instantly, it may take years of planning and there will doubtless be risks and potential problems involved. Even after all the meticulous planning in the world, it is very possible that the outcome was not what was originally visioned, (as in the case of the Philae Probe, where it appears that the landing on the comet has left the probe in a crater’s shadow thus not allowing the sun to recharge the solar panels. It is currently in ‘hibernation’ and will await recharging, when and if, the probe can absorb some sun energy).

Next time you have a dream, and people tell you it’s impossible… give them the Rosetta Space Mission Story!…. Just like the Philae Probe…To be continued!

All you ever needed to know about Hallowe’en is right here…. http://www.livescience.com/40596-history-of-halloween.html

All you ever need to know about training and people development…. then you have found IMD (UK)… simply gives us a call!

With many years of experience in training and development, you can be sure that when you attend one of our workshops or courses, we will give you the tools to tap into that phenomenal organ between your ears… your brain! Want to know more? Contact us today (Oh, and please ‘follow’ our blog and Facebook Page 🙂

How many business opportunities are turned down on a regular basis (and life opportunities), purely because we lack the confidence to carry it out or doubt ourselves that we have sufficient knowledge or skill to undertake the task? Take the opportunity and use it as a motivator, to learn a new skill or increase your knowledge. Can you imagine how impactful that could be?

Next time an opportunity presents itself, grab it with both hands… and then go about increasing your knowledge or skill. Consider what resources you may need?

If this is something that you’d like to investigate further, then be sure to watch out for our forthcoming workshop, where the focus will be on making you a far more confident person than, perhaps, you are at the present time.

Contact us on 01277 821651 or simply email us on info@imduk.com to register your interest.

Are you caught up in the cycle of working in a job you don’t love, to earn money, to put a roof over your head and food on the table, simply to exist, so that you can go to work tomorrow, to a job that you don’t love, to earn more money, to put a roof over your head and put food on the table, simply to exist, so that you can go to work tomorrow….. get the picture?

If YOU want MORE, then look out for our forthcoming workshops that can have a SERIOUS IMPACT on your life!

Interested? Then please contact us to register your interest (life@imduk.com) or look out for workshop announcements on our Facebook Page (Please just LIKE). http://www.facebook.com/IMDUKlimited

More details are on our Blog Site, which you can FOLLOW now by going to www.imduk.org and entering an email address under the ‘follow’ button.

Feeling stressed-out after Christmas? I’ll also bet you were even more stressed out before Christmas!

How many people do you know, perhaps on occasions, even yourself, who tell you they suffer from stress? They are really stressed, everything is getting on top of them and that they have suffered for ages. They feel under pressure, sometimes to unimaginable levels.

STRESS DOESN’T ACTUALLY EXIST!

Now if I went on to say ‘stress’ doesn’t actually exist, these would be the first people to disagree with me. What I mean by that statement is that you cannot actually ‘catch’ stress, there aren’t ‘stress virus particles’ flying around the air, in the same way that you can inhale or contract other, airborne diseases, such as Influenza or Avian Flu.

Stress can be described, effectively, as a reaction to a situation or perhaps a response to a circumstance. Many of you will have heard of ‘white coat syndrome’ where someone, for example, who attends a GP surgery to have their blood pressure taken, suddenly has high blood pressure, due to the situation they find themselves in. Many of you will have been to the dentist for that filling, long overdue, and as you are watching the clock for your appointment time in the waiting room, anxiety and tension rises, and you start to feel out of control. The levels in each and everyone of us can differ enormously, yet think about this… all of these are reactions in your mind, nothing has actually happened as yet!

Even if you are the ‘coolest cucumber’ in the world, imagine yourself, alone in a wood and as you turn a corner, the biggest, fiercest Grizzly Bear confronts you, standing on it’s hind legs, teeth bared and growling. How do you feel? Get the picture?

Stress is the way the mind responds to a situation or circumstance, and with the mind being such a phenomenal tool, has the ability to work for you… but sadly, on occasions, it can work against you as well, (too often, if you allow it to).

FANCY SOME TIME TRAVEL?

Like a scene out of Doctor Who, the mind has the ability to undertake time-travel, on a daily basis. Think, if you will, for a moment about what you did yesterday morning. Now think about what you may be doing tomorrow morning and you’ll soon get the idea that the mind is continually tracking backwards and forwards, normally, with the help of the thinking, process driven left brain, analysing what has happened and perhaps, what ‘might’ happen. You may hear yourself saying, ‘Why did I do that’? ‘If I hadn’t done that’? ‘Why does it always happen to me’? You’ll know many people that are continually saying this to themselves, without actually doing anything about it! As an opposite, you also jump forward in time, planning your day and week ahead, perhaps arranging your holiday itinerary, even a shopping trip, etc. and again, you’ll know people who, before it has even happened, will be imagining how bad the week ahead will be! (For those, it probably will be, but more of that later).

When we start to overthink, either the past or what we perceive to be the future, then that can undoubtedly increase our stress levels, yet there is only one moment that we can control and that is the here and now. The past has gone, analyse it as much as you wish, but it won’t change. Of course, learn from it and use it as a learning point which can shape what you do for the rest of your life, but it will never actually change. Similarly, you can influence what happens tomorrow, but you cannot 100% control what will happen. Life may throw us a curved ball, outside/external influences can start to shape what will happen in the future. The only moment we can control is now.

BECOME LESS STRESSED RIGHT NOW

So how do you even begin to become less-stressed? Well one of the proven methods, and something that each and everyone of us can do, is breathing. Controlled breathing together with the correct focus has been proven to lower stress, anxiety and blood pressure. So why do people get caught on the merry-go-round of their life and suffer due to unacceptable stress levels. (I say unacceptable, because a manageable amount of stress is a good thing, it drives us on, motivates us, etc, but again, that’s something I’ll discuss on another day). Focussing on the moment and controlled breathing is often referred to as meditation and you can meditate whenever you choose to, it really is up to you.

You may know people, whose anxiety and stress levels are, quite frankly, unacceptable. It affects not only their day to day work and social lives, it can have long-lasting effects on their general health, lowering the immune system and leaving them susceptible to all manner of illnesses. Yet, for most, it really doesn’t have to be that way. For a few sufferers, it seems incredible that instead of moving away from the source of their stress, they are actually drawn towards it. The whole situation or circumstance that has caused the stress and illness, becomes a ‘safety net’ to them. It may seem bizarre, but again, you may know people like this, constantly stating that ‘One day, they will do this, or one day they will do that…. yet it never actually happens… What they effectively do is wallow in exactly the thing that is causing them stress, like a constant downward spiral, merely increasing stress levels. Again, you will know people that do eventually (and hopefully) get themselves out of whatever situation they are in that is causing their stress and anxiety… and one of their first responses is ‘I don’t know why I didn’t do this earlier’. The fact is many people know what they need to do, but do not have that courage, determination or conviction to change; sometimes they just need a helping hand.

Current research shows us that meditation can have a huge impact on our positivity, in turn increasing our health and wellbeing. Some people insist they do not have enough time in their lives to meditate, and perhaps they are right! Maybe they are just too busy fighting the stress to actually try something different that could help them. Just five to ten minutes meditating each day can start to have a huge impact on your own life. Surely you are worth that investment?

WHAT TO DO NEXT

If this really does intrigue you and you’d like to know a little more about how you can reduce your stress levels and embark on the journey of meditation, then contact us on the details below. Dates are currently being sourced for workshops, to help you, right now.